Old West Mini-Wargame: Showdown at High Noon - A Wargame in a Matchbox Epilogue

Old West Mini-Wargame: Showdown at High Noon according to my scenario and interpreted by ChatGPT

Last year I attended the 'Wargame in a Wee Matchbox Challenge' with paper miniatures from Junior General and rules made by ChatGPT; Old West Mini-Wargame: Showdown at High Noon.

The rules was really simple, fast playing and easy, and I had to keep everything small to make it fit in a matchbox (which it eventually did). -Since the Challenge I've played the game several times with my oldest son. The game feels perhaps a little too simple, as gamers usually ends up behind cover exchanging fire with the opponents until one of them runs out of health. I wanted to see if it would help to this feeling and make the game more interesting if a little more was added to it than what would fit in a matchbox. So I decided to try out the very same simple rules and scenario with larger terrain and miniatures in 3D as I wanted to use my 54mm -ish Cowboys in a game.  I'm curious to see if a more '3D-game' gives another impression or 'deluxe version' of this simple game.

I had almost everything I needed to convert my 2D-game in the matchbox into a fully 3D one, except for a female hostage to rescue. I found one 28mm scale at Thingeverse and 3D-printed her to match the size of my 54mm -ish cowboys. I guess she can double up and I can use her as a civilian or a missionary in my Congo Crisis games too. 

Scenario: It's loosely based on the scene from 'A Fistfull of Dollars' when 'Joe' frees 'Marisol'; 3 outlaws are holding a woman hostage in the house, and our 'Hero' is there to free her.

Forces: Are dictated by the rules; 3 outlaws with health of 2 and hits on 5+ Vs. 'The Man with No Name' with a health of 4 and hits on a 4+ and activates first each turn.

The Rules:

The Game

The original set up for the game (as in the 'Matchbox Challenge), and my fully 3D set up for this game (which will not fit in any matchbox):

Our 'Hero' approaches the house where the 'Bad Guys' are holding a woman captive: 

The Bad Guys spot him at a distance and it doesn't look like he's gonna take them by surprise:

As soon as a couple of the outlaws leaves the building, they get into our Hero's gun sight:

But at this distance and moving targets the Hero misses, and the Bad Guys manage to get into cover and return fire:

And very soon the firefight develops into a locked position where all combatants are in cover exchanging fire in a very dueling like battle. The Bad Guys are good shooters and our Hero takes a couple of hits. This situation does not look good for him at this stage:

I think our Hero performs best under pressure because when it start to look real bad for him, he gets a couple of critical hits on one of his gunmen:

And one of them are out of the fight:

Then the nameless Hero focus his fire on the other gunman behind cover:

And finally takes him out too:

The Villain did not like this development in the gunfight, as he now has to go out and fight him himself:

Just as the Villain leves the building he doesn't manage to even open fire before the nameless Hero opens fire... 

...and at very long range accurately hits the Villain beside the female hostage, and impacts a critical hit on him with a single shot:

After 15 minutes and 10 turns it look like the nameless Hero saved the day:

Conclusion

So was this game any different than the Matchbox-version of it? - Not really, it's still the very same simple rules that makes battle develop more into static duels where the only modifier is it the fighters are Heroes' and have cover or not. The only difference with this game was that I was able to make even nicer images for the battle report.

And with this game and battle report its perhaps time to finally conclude my entry to the "2024 Wargame in a Wee Matchbox Challenge". It's been an interesting challenge and I would like to credit Alan at The Duchy of Tradgardland for the initiative to the challenge and the entries as follow. Well done everybody!!

• Man of TIN blog
• Grid based wargaming
• Wargame Hermit: Solo Wargaming
• Deathzap
• Projects and Procrastination

I guess some of us has 'leftover matches' after emptying our boxes to join the 'Matchbox Challenge'. At the Model exhibition in Neumünster earlier this year I found this example what you can use your matches for. -At least if you have 3700 of them and 640 hours to spare...

- Perhaps an idea for a 'Challenge' in 2025??